Ultraviolet image of Jupiter taken by the Wide Field Camera of the
Hubble Space Telescope. The image shows Jupiter's atmosphere at a
wavelength of 2550 Angstroms after many impacts by fragments of comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9. The most recent impactor is fragment R which is
below the center of Jupiter (third dark spot from the right). This
photo was taken 3:55 EDT on July 21, about 2.5 hours after R's impact.
A large dark patch from the impact of fragment H is visible rising on
the morning (left) side. Proceding to the right, other dark spots were
caused by impacts of fragments Q1, R, D and G (now one large spot), and
L, with L covering the largest area of any seen thus far. Small dark
spots from B, N, and Q2 are visible with careful inspection of the
image. The spots are very dark in the ultraviolet because a large
quantity of dust is being deposited high in Jupiter's stratosphere, and
the dust abosrbs sunlight. Scientists will be able to track winds in
the stratosphere by watching the evolution of these
Credit: Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team